Welcome to VintageValerie.com.

In 2005, I eagerly registered the domain name “VintageValerie.com” on the World Wide Web. It’s a nickname I’ve always loved. Maybe it’s the alliteration? Vintage Valerie. For sure, it’s a name I associated with my lifelong passion for all things vintage. My favorite collectibles included Weiss and Miriam Haskell brooches, along with a small selection of exquisite hand-beaded evening bags. Vintage truly defined my signature style, dating back to high school. Regardless of age, be it 15 or 50, a designer bedazzled brooch makes my heart flutter.

Year after year, I’ve continued to pay for the renewal of the website. Now, over two decades have swiftly passed, and at 69, I find myself in the last quarter of my life. I absolutely prefer the term “vintage” to “old” or “elderly”. The word “elderly” is often associated with a certain stage in life, while the word “old” can imply something that is not well-maintained. Merriam-Webster relates “old” to the notion of being “discarded.” The term “old” can also imply that one belongs to the past rather than the future. I’m a little over five months from turning the big 70, but my mind and heart believe the past is behind me, and my remaining days hold a future – and a future with a hope for good things. 

I have been called ‘old’, a word that was hurled at me one miserable morning as I trudged to my daughter’s hospital room after the removal of a kidney from adrenal cancer. Double rooms were the norm in 2006, and as I entered the room after just a few hours’ sleep, the woman in the next bed told her sons in the loudest voice, “I don’t know who that old woman is…” I was 49 at the time. If truth be told, the grief of a terminally ill daughter aged me beyond my years. 

After her death, I worked hard at rest and restoration of my overtired body. That took many months and hard work with diet and exercise. Fast forward to age 60 – when I asked for the 10% senior citizen discount at a thrift store, and the check-out girl made me pull out my ID to prove it. After she read my age, I heard the happy words, “You don’t look that old!”

My transition to a full head of grey hair, Miranda Priestly style, has put me back in the granny category. Now, I don’t mind so much. These days it’s easy to feel overlooked, as a non-contributing member of society. I think most every Baby Boomer will verify that as you age, your body can show evidence, but your mind may be the sharpest. For this reason, I prefer the word “vintage,” which refers to something of high quality and enduring value.

That’s just the world as I see it….